Air-sea personnel rescue pickup system



Nov. 22, 1949 R. N. HOEHN ETAL AIR-SEA PERSONNEL RESCUE PICKUP SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 10,. 194:6

w O I r N e E E w i i 0 MW T 5 M? Nov. 22, 1949 R. N. HOEHN ET AL 2,488,538

AIR-SEA PERSONNEL RESCUE PICKUP SYSTEM Filed April 10, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 22, 1949 UNITED PATENT ornce AIR SEA PERSONNEL RESCUE PICKUP SYSTEM Application'April 10, 1946, Serial .'No.ifi61;037

sclaims. (o1. 25&- -.-.1..2

(Granted-under the act of 'March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30,

The invention described herein .InayIbeman factured and used by or for. the Government for governmental purposes without the paymentto us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to an aerial picjk=up system and more particularl to an air sea rescue 'picka p S stem in which aland-jbased .alircraft jis..used for rescuin personnel downed at sea.

As long as ,aircraft operateover large bodies of water, .therealways, exists the danger of,,aircraft. crashingatsea. While many meanshave been developed to. keep thelpersonnel of the downedaircraft afloat. on water, the immediate rescue. of this personnlflispften impossible, even though imperative. It is often not feasible for rescue aircraft .to land .on the ,water tor ick up thispersonnel, .due .togrough water and the-fact that. the rescue aircraftmay not be;-of, the. amphibious type.

Therefore, it is .an, ob ect or this 7 inventionito provide an hairasea rescue .pick-,,up;,system for rescuing .personnel downed-sat searhymeans ;-of a. land-based aircraft.

It is a furtheroblectaofthisinventiona-torprovide a Watertight floating personnel resclle 0011-, ai rc p of .-ca ying nersonnelmwbich :can be dropped irom;.an.:.a;ircraft ontothe waternear the personnel lto-,beyresoued,.and can 'lbB epic-keel up from the water by the aircraftwhilejnrlight.

It .is. a. further object of ithisainventien .tor-provide a. float n personn lzres lle container havin it upper portion. aerodvnamioally streamlined. itsmlower portion formed Witna V .hottom, and provided with .a flight. ,stabilizingfin; .so .that :the personnel rescue container. willbe stable .and. will provide. a. minimumof drag on the aircraft, both while in the watenand flight, when the pickup occurs.

It is a still further-objector this invention to Provi e p onne re cue .containerhavin a P -up 01 sa v pported thy masts. which are pivotally supported bythe container. The masts'to'be rotated to an upright position by the .=occupa.nt of the container priorfitoithe pick-up, and loweredtoa position horizontally adjacent. to: thecontainer after the pick-up loop has engaged the pick-up apparatus of the -aircraft in flight, and become disengaged from the personnel rescue container.

These and other objects of our invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

757) l2 Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the air-sea resone pickrupsystem.

"Fig. Jf24is a perspective view of the personnel rescue container showingthe pick-up masts in '6 the'horizontalposition. I [Fig.3 is a front view of the personnel rescue container showing the pick-up masts in the. vertica'lposition. jFig. 4 isan enlarged fragmentary view. of the 10 pick-up mast. operatin mechanism.

"Fig. '5 is an enlarged fragmentary view ofthe pick-up mast locking mechanism.

Referring to Figs. 2, and. 3, itwill be seen that th personnel resoueicontaine 1 hasiits up er 1 5 portion.9...aerodynamically streamlined so .asto provide a minimum of air resistancewhen the personnel rescue container 1 is in theair. The lower ,or Water-borne portion .10 of "the container 1 is formed with a V bottom similar to that employed on flying "boat hulls. This type of bottom provides a minimumof water resistance when the personnel rescue container 1 is beingtowed through the water, by the pick-up aircraft, as wellas stability while in the water. a .A dorsal fin 3..is provided on th uppersurfa of the container 1, aft of the center of container 1. "This :fin l3 acts. as a flight stabilizer ;for the container 1 when itgis being towed through the air.

The size of the container 1 depends on the number of people it .is intended to, pick up. The container 1'! shown here is designed ;to accommodate oneperson, but could easilybe made so as to accommodate :more occupants.

On the upper surface ofwthe container '1 is a hatchl --which when opened p v de n o e inglarge enough for a man to crawl through. The hatch H when lowered 'into place, andilQcjked is watertight. thus: making the entire container 1 watertight and floatable.

sts 1.5 and I6, ,piv tallysuppo te on th container'l, are provided to, suppOrt,a pick-up loop I"! secured betweenthe tops of m sts l5 and It by releas lespring clips l9. Thepi kup loop l'lisattachedby a ring 12'! to three cables 23 which in turn are each connected to eye bolts 25,,secured tothe upper surface oficontainer 1. The eye -bolts'25 are so located that when the ontainer 1, is..pic'ke.d lup bythenaircraft, .it,Wil be'balanced in flight.

Eye bolts 26 are provided, on the top of container 1, for the attachment of a parachute used when the container 1 is dropped from the aircraft 5 to the personnel to be rescued.

Referring to Fig. 4, the lower end of masts 3 I and I6 are respectively inserted and pinned into tubular elbows 21 and 28. Elbows 21 and 28 extend through watertight journals 3| mounted in the sides of container 1 and are joined inside container 1 by a fitting 33, thus forming a yoke pivotally supported by journals 3!. The connected elbows 21 and 28 are the masts l5 and I6 secured to the respective elbows provide a U- shaped loop-supporting structure, as shown best in Fig. 3.

Attached to elbow 28 is a lock wheel 35 pro-. vided with detents 31 and 39 as shown in Fig. 5. When the masts l5 and I6 are in ahorizontal position, detent 31 engages a retaining spring 4| which is riveted to a plate 43 by rivets 45. The plate 43 is attached both to the wall of container 1 and a former 41. When the detent 3'1 engages the retaining spring 41, the elbows 21 and 2B are locked in place and therefore the masts l5 and 16 cannot move. Detent 39 is used to lock the masts l5 and 16 in a vertical position.

Within container 1, at approximately the center of the yoke formed by elbows 21 and 28, a handle 49 is securely attached. By moving this handle up and down, the yoke is rotated in the journals 3| and the masts l5 and it are moved between the horizontal and vertical positions. The masts l5 and 16 are kept in the horizontal position adjacent the container 1 at all times except when the actual pick-up operation is in process.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, a rescue aircraft 5, upon sighting personnel floating on the water, drops the personnel rescue container 1 by parachute near the life raft 29. The person, or persons, to be rescued then boards the container, removes the parachute, raises the hatch II and enters the container. It is necessary for the occupant, or occupants, to lie in a prone position during the entire pick-up operation. The inside of the container is well padded and a chest harness is provided for shock. After entering the container and getting into the proper position, the hatch is lowered and locked so that it is watertight. Then the handle on the yoke is pushed up, rotating the masts to a vertical position. The container is then ready to be picked up. The aircraft flies over with its pick-up apparatus lowered and the pick-up loop on the container is hooked by the pick-up apparatus on the aircraft. The pick-up loop then becomes disengaged from the masts due to the action of the spring clips 19 in releasin the pick-up loop from the masts. When the pick-up loop becomes disengaged and the container starts to move, the occupant of the container pulls the yoke handle down, rotating the masts from the vertical to the horizontal position to thereby reduce the aerodynamic drag. After the container rises into the air, it is pulled up into the bomb bay, or other such opening in the aircraft, by means of the pick-up apparatus. The rescued person is then removed from the container and is safe inside the aircraft. If more people are to be picked up, the cable is rerigged to the masts, and another parachute is attached to the container. It is then dropped out of the aircraft and the same process is repeated.

It will thus be seen that we have provided an air-sea rescue pick-up system in which it is not necessary for the aircraft to land on the water in order to accomplish that rescue. We have also provided for a personnel rescue container which can easily be picked up by an aircraft in flight and which will provide as little resistance to the air and water as possible.

While we have described a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that we do not wish to be restricted thereto, and that we intend to cover all modifications thereof which would be apparent to one skilled in the art and which comes within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an aerial pick-up system, a streamlined container adapted to house personnel during the pick-up operation, a yoke comprising a rotatable memberextending transversely through the interior of said container, a handle integral with said member within said container to rotate said member and said yoke manually, said yokefurther comprising an elbow portion on each end of said rotatable member exteriorly of said container, a mast secured to each of said elbows and extending radially from said rotatable member in coplanar relation thereto to provide a U- shaped loop-supporting structure, a pick-up loop releasably supported at two spaced points by the free ends of said masts, means securing said pick-up loop to said container, said pick-up loop including a transversely extending pick-up portion between said two spaced points which is elevated to a pick-up position when said masts are raised by rotation of said rotatable member, said pick-up portion bein adapted for engagement by an aerial pick-up means carried by an aircraft which is guided so as to engage the latter means with said pick-up portion of said pickup loop and simultaneously release said pick-up loop from the free ends of said masts, whereby said masts may then be lowered to reduce aerodynamic drag on the container and whereby said container may be carried aloft by said aircraft.

2. In an aerial pick-system as recited in claim 1, wherein said streamlined container provides a fully enclosed boat hull having suflicient buoy ancy to float in water when occupied by said personnel, and wherein said rotatable member is located near the forward end of said hull.

3. In an aerial pick-up system as recited in claim 1, wherein said streamlined container provides a fully enclosed boat hull having sufiicient buoyancy to float in water when occupied by said personnel, and wherein opposite walls of said hull near the forward end thereof are provided with bearings for said rotatable member.

ROBERT N. HOEHN. HAROLD E. ROHAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,885,765 Ricks Nov. 1, 1932 1,907,347 Denney et a1 May 2, 1933 2,418,702 Du Pont Apr. 8, 1947 

